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Monday, August 11, 2008

Church Creek Part Deux Race Report....

We were back over the Eastern Shore on Saturday morning for the Church Creek Time Trial State Championships edition. With a 40km time trial there isn't really that much to report on! I knew that I didn't really have much zip and speed in the legs as I have been concentrating on the long distance rides with long steady state intervals. With that though I just blasted off the line and hoped to hold a higher pace as possible for as long as possible.....the start felt good but that was probably the tailwind helping me. Once I hit the headwinds it started to get seriously tough and despite much coaxing to Sarah to shield me from the wind with the truck she drove on to the next viewing spot and left me to the elements :-(

I went through the 20km line in 30mins 50secs and I realised that I wasn't going to go under the hour....it was going to be a long shot anyway and it leaves me something to work on for next year! Fortunately the final 5-6 miles gave us back the favorable crosswind/tailwind and I cranked it out as best I could for a overall time of 1hr 2mins dead on for 11th in category....an average of 24.1MPH, so I am happy to a) have beaten my time from June and b) to break the 24MPH barrier!

The rest of the day was pretty sweet, the weather was more like a mid-September day with mid-eighties temperatures and a nice breeze. We grabbed some lunch and an iced coffee (Mountain Dew for Sarah) and took a wander along the Choptank fishing pier. As we were doing so we made sure to scout some decent viewing points for the ChesapeakeMan race. The swim at that race is a point to point and we actually swim through the gap in the fishing pier and underneath the road bridge. Based upon the distance, Sarah and the rest of Team Banks should be able to get to the end of the fishing pier and watch as the swimmers come past....which I think is pretty cool!

We also managed to get back home and over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge before the unfortunate (and very disconcerting) accident where a tractor-trailer dissappeared over the side of the bridge! Sarah isn't a particularly good passenger over bridges that cross water and so bearing in mind we go over the Bay Bridge quite regularly she wasn't too impressed to hear that a truck had driven over the side. For more information read the Washington Post!